Eagles unable to overcome lack of shots in postseason opener

KEOTA – Everything was there. 

Well, almost everything. The only thing that was missing on Thursday night was the ball falling through the net. 

Keota’s season came to a close on Thursday night as they fell 61-51 to Winfield-Mt. Union in the opening round of the class 1A region seven basketball tournament. 

“The ball would not go in the hoop tonight,” Keota head girls basketball coach Jeff Sprouse said. “The other team got lucky on that front and we did not. It wasn’t the defense that stopped us, we had wide open shots tonight. Yeah, we fouled a little too much, but still we had the opportunities to take the shots that we needed to win the game. We had our chances to win the game, but when you don’t make baskets you aren’t going to win the game.”

The shooting struggles for the Eagles started in the first half. Despite the low scoring effort the Eagles led 28-26 at halftime. 

Throughout the second half the shots continued to disappear for Keota as their season started to slip away. 

The second half started with Winfield-Mt. Union coming out and immediately tying the game at 28. A Keota turnover helped give the Wolves their first lead of the second half. From there the Wolves advantage just continued to grow. 

First it held steady at five points. After a few more missed shots by Keota the lead grew to seven points. By the end of the third quarter the Wolves led 51-39.

Fortune seemed to turn around in the start of the fourth quarter. The Eagles started the final quarter on a 6-0 run to climb back into the game. 

Early on it seemed as if the Eagles were going to be able to erase the deficit they were in. 

Then, Winfield-Mt. Union hit a three pointer with just over three minutes to go in the final quarter. That was all it took. 

Keota’s shots disappeared again and the Wolves were able to hold a steady lead around nine points for the final three minutes. 

In the end the Wolves were able to close the game with a 61-51 victory bringing an end to the Keota girls basketball season. 

“They couldn’t stop us defensively, we had wide open looks from the outside of the lane, those shots rimmed out,” Sprouse said. “We’d drive the wide open lane and even those shots would rim out. There’s nothing you can do about it.”

All the Eagles could do was keep attacking the rim, but the shots continued to rim out and the Eagles season ended with an 10-11 record. 

Emily Conger led the scoring for Keota with 19 points. Kimberly Clarahan scored 18 points. Cameron Haifley scored eight points. 

Grace Conger, Elyse Lyle and Brynn Conrad all scored two points each. 

The Eagles finished the season having won nine of their final 12 games. Sprouse said that was a testament to how well the team grew over the  course of the season. 

“Overall this year the girls really showed how well they were able to play,” Sprouse said. “Yeah, maybe we left a few games out there, but for the most part the girls played fundamentally sound basketball. We had a lot of things that we did right this year. 

“Our goal was to play the best basketball at the end of the year and, for the most part, we were doing that. It is just one of those things where tonight we couldn’t score as much as we would have liked and that cost us.”  

Photos by Mark Schafer